LA SEMAINE DE LA CRITIQUE IN BRASILIA

Bernard Payen was attending the Brasilia Film Festival, one of the oldest national competition of short and feature films and one of the most important film festival of Brazil. On November 21 and 22, Josyane Osorio, director of the “Curtissimo” Short Film Festival, organized a conference as a tribute to the Year of France in Brazil.
On the agenda: reflections on screenwriting, production and distribution for short films through the screening of three short films presented at la Semaine de la Critique (La Copie de Coralie by Nicolas Engel, La Route la Nuit by Marine Alice Le Du and Skhizein by Jérémy Clapin) and a Brazilian short film (Um Ramo). Josiane had asked me to comment these short films from a narrative point of view but also to talk about their reception and their “after Cannes” career.
This encounter with an attentive and motivated audience enabled us to talk about the current dynamism of young Brazilian cinema and this has been illustrated by the selection of many short films in la Semaine de la Critique: Vera Egito presented this year her first two films, Espalhadas Pelo Ar and Elo, at this year’s Opening and Closing Nights, Caetano Gotardo, his film Areia for the 2008 Opening Night (before The Seven Days by Ronit Elkabetz & Shlomi Elkabetz), A Espera by Fernanda Teixeira was in competition the same year and Um Ramo by Marco Dutra and Juliana Rojas won the Kodak Discovery Award in 2007. Last but not least, 2006 and 2007, Esmir Filho, presented his two last short films at la Semaine Alguma Coisa Assim (Best Screenplay Award in 2006) and Saliva, before directing his first feature film, Os Famosos e os duendes da Morte, in Competition at the Locarno Film Festival, deep expression of a new generation of young and fascinating Brazilian filmmakers.
Damien Manivel, French director and former student of the Fresnoy, who presented two out of his three short films; Brigitte Veyne, Audiovisual Attachée of the French Embassy, who explained how the Franco-Brazilian cooperation works (when it comes to cinema) and also reminded how the production and distribution of short films in France operates; Marcus Ligocki, Brazilian screenwriter and producer and two Brazilian directors representing different generations, Thiago Moysés and Pedro Anísio, all took part to this conference.